Gesture Drawing For Animation

Chapter 5: Elements of the Pose

Angles and Tension

Angles and tension are important elements in drawing. Little has been said about them in

books on drawing and in drawing classes. They can be the difference between a do-

nothing drawing and an active, dynamic drawing. Tension is brought about by the

appropriate use of angles in a drawing.

It is easy to imagine how a running figure can create tension by the angle of his body.

Any time you pull a figure off its perpendicular norm you create tension. The figure is

pulling away from one border and pushing toward the other. There is also a tension set up

between the figure and the ground surface—for it would fall if something weren't done to

stabilize it. There are tensions set up within the body, also, such as between the

outstretched arm and the opposite outstretched leg. That tension is eased as the body

prepares to change from one leg to the other. Then the tension is set up again on the

opposite side.

Of utmost importance is any deviation from the perpendicular axis. We humans are very

sensitive to it. We can't stand pictures hanging askew on a wall; Venetian blinds that are

lower on one end than the other, neckties that hang askew. If the tree we planted has

started to lean, we drive a stake beside it and tie it up straight.

You've all seen and probably have a copy of Muybridge's The Human Figure in Motion.

Muybridge knew the value of using vertical and horizontal lines behind all of his

photographs so any deviation of angle could easily be seen. I submit that without those

lines the untrained eye would miss a great many of the vital angles that was and is

necessary to enact those actions and poses.

I have pointed out many times in the drawing class, there is a compulsive urge to

straighten up the model's pose. The whole purpose of a gesture class is to nurture the

ability to capture those subtle angles and tensions that makes the pose enjoyable,

picturesque, charming, unique; or whimsical, humorous; or even sad or wretched.

Try this—whenever you make a sketch, keep a mental vertical line going through the

figure somewhere. Realize that even this is an angle—it is a 90-degree right angle to the

horizontal plane. Any deviation from this (in mathematical terms) would be an obtuse or

an acute angle. In drawing, this deviance would set up a tension. Or to put it in less

formal terms, it is what we humans use in our body language. And body language, simply

put, is our every day form of acting. As animators, acting is our business.

The author E.B. White wrote, “When you say something, make sue you have said it. The

chances of your having said it are only fair.” He could have been talking about drawing.

Here are a few corrections I made on drawings in class. All the problems were the same--

a tendency to straighten up the pose and in effect iron out the gesture.

Gesture Drawing For Animation

In the above drawing the gesture was turning out to be more of an, “Oh, my tooth hurts”

nature, rather than one of reflection or deep thought. Strengthening the angles also helped

to show the weight of the head on the hand, also allowing for a more definite angle of the

wrist.

[Below is] another case of overlooking the life-giving qualities of angles. Even a still

drawing should look like it has action in it (even repose is an action), and a skillful, bold,

adventurous use of angles will contribute to its presence.

In this drawing it looks as though the artist tried to straighten the body up and even make

a front view of it, interpreting the angles to suit those intentions. One doesn’t have to

invent angles to interpret a gesture—the body with its solid/flexible construction will

dictate them for us.

Chapter 5: Elements of the Pose

I always advocate, and urge, and even plead for the termination of the practice of drawing

one elbow without the other elbow to relate it to—or one knee without the other, or a

hand or a foot or shoulder, etc. Observe people at play, at work or at rest--there is a

constant relationship between the joints and appendages. They are either complementing,

opposing or balancing each other. It is this relationship that creates the angles and

tensions that are the tool of expressive gesture drawing.

A case of straightening up the angles and losing the gesture. Even a subtle gesture should

be unmistakable. A judicious sprinkling of angles will go a long way in ensuring its

readability.

Gesture Drawing For Animation

Applying Angles and Tension in Our Drawings

One day as my wife, Dee, and I were coming home from the tennis courts, we stopped

along the country road so she could clip some reed-like plants for use in her basket

making. While stopped, I, as usual, took up pen and pad and rather unthinkingly sketched

what was before me—a multitude of things that were not a good set up composition-wise.

I simply went through the motions of sketching. I got a lot of it down but it was a

hodgepodge. Suddenly, I realized that if one of my students had done that, I would have

reminded them of the rules of perspective and certainly because it was so fresh in my

mind, having worked up a handout paper on angles and tension that week. So I corrected

my sketch--several times, attempting to simplify and clarify things, aware that I was now

drawing, not copying. The possibilities became infinite. I was no longer confused nor

intimidated by the array of bits and pieces—by the parts. I began to see the scene as a

whole, with all the parts fitting together into what I thought of as landscape gestures.

The subject was a landscape but the process of sketching it was the same as if it had been

a live model. I make no special claims for the drawings—they are crude and quickly

drawn, their only purpose being to demonstrate a shifting from copying to creating. Betty

Edwards (Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain), would have said, “Shifting from the

left side to the right side of the brain”.

How can we apply all this to figure drawing? On the following page I have reproduced a

class drawing, which for the short time in which it was done, is quite anatomically solid.

Chapter 5: Elements of the Pose

But it reminds me of my first sketch of the hills—we were involved in copying, getting

lots of this:

and not enough of this:

In animation squash and stretch is one of our greatest tools. Drawing a stretch with these

will in no way put the idea across.

We have to learn to shift our mental gears so that when drawing a stretch, we lean less on

our knowledge and infatuation of anatomy and simply draw a stretch.

Here is the drawing along with three sketches I made to suggest a simple and more direct

approach to the problem of capturing the pose. I changed the angles of the arms, torso

and legs slightly to illustrate what I mean when I speak about using angles to clarify a

pose or to bring out some desirable nuance of gesture.

In one of the sketches I straightened out one whole side of the figure to show that an

almost straight line can be used for a stretch and still retain some semblance of anatomy.

Gesture Drawing For Animation

Notice in one of the sketches I copied the angles of the lower legs, while in the other 2

sketches, I varied them. Also notice how some sharp angled lines were used on the

figure's left foot to make it read clearly as it works against the right leg. The student's

drawing is a little nebulous in that area.

As for tension in the drawings—imagine a large rubber band connected from hand to

hand, foot to foot, knee to knee; hand to knee, head to foot etc. Tension is simply the

stretching, pulling, elastic force, pressure or exertion that takes place in a pose or an

action. So in effect, to capture the essence of this pose, we would not merely be drawing

the left hand and the left knee, but more importantly, the tension between them.

Angles and Tension

I can’t resist pushing the idea of using angles in your drawings. At first it may seem that

you might end up with a very abstract or stiff drawing. But that needn’t be the case.

Perhaps there is a subtle difference in saying, “A drawing is angular” as opposed to

saying “Angles have been used in the drawing.”

Don’t confuse angles with angularity. Some of the most graceful people are put together

with 45-degree angles. Watch them—they seem to have studied how to play one angle

off another to create those tantalizing poses. Sometimes the changes of angles of cheek

against flock, or hand against cheek are so subtle they are felt rather than seen, If you are

just looking they are seductive—if you are drawing, they suddenly become almost

invisible—difficult to see and capture. That’s why sometimes you have to draw not what

you see but what you know is there or what you feel is there.

Chapter 5: Elements of the Pose

Certainly these drawings of Medusa can be considered angular, and so they are, for she is

an “angular” character. On the other hand, these drawings of Snow White, Cinderella and

Freddie Moore's girls are quite angular but at the same time soft and feminine.

Gesture Drawing For Animation

In the more cartoony characters, angles are indispensable. Notice how expressive these

actions are and how angles play such an important part in capturing those actions.

In the drawing below, the student has straightened up the torso, the arms and the hands. I

suggested that the gardener would lean into whatever he was doing, bending forward

from the waist. To guide the attention downward to the cutter, I lowered his left hand.

See the triangle it creates between the two hands and the face—it sets up a downward

movement in the direction of the cutters. His right hand being higher, calls for the right

elbow and shoulder to be higher, eliminating a sameness of angles, and sets up a

tension—as if he were pushing on the cutter handles.

Chapter 5: Elements of the Pose

Tennis and Angles

One thing is for sure: to acquire a certain degree of skill or expertise in any undertaking,

the basics must be studied and conquered. Drawing, animation specifically, is no

exception. Once the basic rules and principles are thoroughly ingrained, they can be

applied to all the variations of problems that will confront us—and confront us they will.

The game of tennis has a few basics that when once learned are applicable throughout the

game. For instance once you learn what a “forehand drive” is, you soon realize that that

shot doesn’t cover just one tiny area of the total. It covers any ball that comes to your

right side (If you’re right handed), anywhere from the ankles up to around head height,

providing it bounces once on the court before it gets to you. Beginners who are not yet

aware of this as a category of shot will be confused, because it comes at them anywhere

from the center of the body to way beyond their reach, and as I mentioned, from the ankle

to head height. It’s like being “splayed” by a machine gun of tennis balls. You may find a

waist shot at arms length fairly easy to handle, but these things are coming at you like

swallows entering their nesting place at sundown.

So you study and learn this one stroke, the “forehand drive” which requires one particular

“principle” of stroking, more or less. Just knowing that much makes it easier to adjust to

the variety of heights and distances and speeds of balls, so you can adapt your body

movements, weight distribution, speed of racket, footwork, etc. Anything over the head

merges into the area of an “overhead” shot—that requires a technique of its own.

Anything that bounces just before you hit it is a “half volley” shot that has its own rules

for handling. The forehand drive is just one of many shots a tennis player should have in

his arsenal of shots.

I didn’t mean to bore you, but I thought it might illustrate the fact that knowing a

particular problem so you can deal with it on its own terms makes sense. It takes all the

mystery and the confusion out of it. It allows one to isolate a problem and to work on it

alone and by repetitive practice, “groove” it to perfection, and to learn it so well that it

becomes second nature—not that you won’t have to think anymore, but that thinking

about it will not cause you to lose your main trend of thought, which of course in

animation is acting out your character part on paper.

To avoid belaboring those rules too much, let’s use angles as an illustration of a “stroke”

in our arsenal of shots. Every gesture or pose is loaded with angles, but if they are not-

recognized as potential point winners, we might just gloss over them. I don’t want you to

gloss over that word gloss either—it means superficial quality or show—a deceptive

outward appearance—to make an error seem right or trivial. If we gloss over enough of

those kinds of drawing “strokes,” we’ll end up with a “love game,” in other words a

nothing drawing.

Back to angles. If you want to make a strong statement (and even subtle poses and

actions can be strong statements), pay special attention to angles. Especially if you work

roughly, then “clean” your drawings up later (after the initial spurt of enthusiasm and

clarity of vision has left you). Then later a cleanup person will work on it, who never had

Gesture Drawing For Animation

your enthusiasm or clarity of vision, and perhaps soften the angles just a little more. Your

accolades will be soft too, for it is the strong statements that get the oohs and aahs.

Sometimes when drawing from the model, the angles are just barely discernible and so

need special attention to find. Once found they need accenting to make sure they are still

subtle, but at the same time make a strong statement.

This was beginning to be a nice drawing, but was also becoming a straight up and down

thing. The pose had some subtle angles that I tried to point out.

If I had not interrupted this sketch it might have turned out to be a very sensitive drawing.

But the whole gesture was overlooked. Note the acute angles the gesture needed to get its

story told. Not just the neck angle but the face angle against the neck, the front neck

angle against the back, the neck angle against the shoulders. One should never work one

angle by itself--it must work against other angles in order to contribute to the overall

maximum statement.

Chapter 5: Elements of the Pose

This is not a bad drawing. But I felt it missed a very subtle thing going on in the pose,

which a few lines and some definite angles captured.

In this pose I didn’t feel the head was leaning on the hand. Through the use of “surface

line” I lowered the face so it angled into the fingers to show the weight of the head. The

hand and arm became a tangent, so I bent the wrist to introduce an angle (which helped to

show the weight of the head also). The trapezius muscles and shoulders became too

symmetrical, so I offset them with more interesting angles and introduced a neck with its

three-dimensional overlap.

Straight against Curve: Squash and Stretch in the Pose

Simply put, a straight line is the symbol for a stretch, and a bent or folded line is the

symbol for a squash. So whether the action is a broad stretch of the arm and body, or a

subtle stretch on a face cause by a smile or an open mouth, the symbols are applied to the

anatomy to put these ideas over.

In quick, "first-impression" gesture drawing, two lines is all you need to locate and

suggest the various parts of the arms and legs—preferably one straight line on the stretch

side and one curved line on the squash side.

Gesture Drawing For Animation

In every move a figure (human or cartoon) makes its adjustments in the various parts or

groups of parts to pull off the move. Usually a preparation or anticipation precedes the

move and more than likely involves a squash, plus the distribution of weight to intensify

the thrust of the move. The move or action itself usually is a stretch. But even in an

extreme squash drawing, some parts have to stretch to get into that position.

The principles involved are simple and obvious and are applicable to any action. If the

body leans forward to grasp some object with its outstretched hand, there must be stretch,

and there must be an adjustment in weight distribution such as counterbalancing with the

opposite arm, or placing one foot closer to the object than the other to keep the body

balanced.

There are other things which will contribute to the reach also. Eye contact with the object

funnels the attention to the reason for the action, keeping the path between the hand and

the object, and the eyes and the object, clear of any obstruction; opening the hand in

anticipation for the grasp. Timing which we can't depict in a sketch, but which we should

feel, is also important. It will be different for delicately picking up the object as opposed

to seizing it in a broad sweep of the arm, plus of course the continual redistribution of

weight, and the choice of which part of the move will be reserved for the extreme

extreme.

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Inanimate characters also stretch and squash:

Set aside time for the practice of sketching with these symbols. I don't mean merely

drawing with straight and curved lines per se—but rather to modify the anatomy to

encompass these principles in drawings that are flexible enough to mold into the desired

gestural needs. This flexibility should be encouraged and nurtured. To sketch in a rigid

fashion discourages adjustments and improvements. "Hey, I just drew a great arm. It may

be in the wrong place, but it's such a great arm—I'll just alter the rest of the figure to fit

it."

Applying Perspective

We have gotten a little technical here but it is only to

stress the importance of thinking of and seeing things

in three-dimensional space. If we carried the premise

of the diminishing rectangles further we could divide

all space into cubes. Layout and Background artists

are more apt to think in these terms for they deal with

scenery that involves space and objects in that space.

For the artist drawing or animating a figure, whether human or cartoon, we are dealing

with only one cube of that space at a time. A variable cube that encompasses the

perimeters of the figure and its gestures.

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The imaginary cube reveals the three-dimensional negative space so important in

capturing a third dimensional drawing on a two dimensional surface. If all the rules of

perspective aren't considered while making a drawing or animating a scene, the character

could end up looking as though it were confined between two panes of glass, forcing it to

do its thing on a two-dimensional stage. Extending that plane into the third dimension

gives the character depth as well as lateral space to move in.

Feeling that three dimensional negative space can also be helpful in creating tension in a

pose or action.

Purdy, forced to work in tight rectangle.

Dwarfs form a circular area:

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Props such as this ironing board aid

in creating depth.

Excellent three-dimensional

drawing of Mickey.

The Sensation of Space

To awaken that sensation of depth and space, hold one fist close to your face and the

other at arm's length. First look at them with one eye closed. This produces a two-

dimensional view—no depth. On opening the other eye, suddenly there will be space

around each fist and between them. It is more than a visual fact—it is a sensation.

We have lived with the sensation all our lives and it has become so familiar that we take

it for granted, meaning we no longer notice it. We no longer experience that fantastic

sensation of depth. An artist should be aware of the sensation and use it in his/her

drawing.

In the following drawings, John Aquino placed the model in settings of his own devising

to create the feeling of space.

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John Aquino

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Whitney Martin used the students as background and subject in order to depict space. No,

not depict space but to rekindle that sensation of space: Whitney uses pastels and conte

crayons in his drawing, which Xerox dark. Clarity is lost in black and white, but they are

gorgeous in color.

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I thought these two drawings (above) by Whitney Martin were worthy of a closer look.

Let me help you fully appreciate them with a short, positive critique: notice on the girl

drawing how Whitney lifted her left shoulder high because the left hand is on the

elevated hip. This lowered the right shoulder and tilted the whole chest area to the right.

Then, and this is a wonderful touch, he straightened the neck for balance, drawing it

closer to the left shoulder. That's stretching things anatomically, but boy, is it effective,

gesture-wise. There is a powerful straight from the left shoulder out to the elbow, which

works strikingly against the curve of the right shoulder and arm which bends around to

her front.

With some dynamically forced perspective in the drawing of the painter, Whitney

increased the sensation of space and depth. There's a nice touch where the paint pail

seems to be swinging—as if he had just rubbed the brush against it. Usually I recommend

something heavy like the pail be hanging straight down to show its weight, but this

swinging pail bit is right in line with the story being told, and adds some excitement to

and already exciting drawing.

Recreating the First Impression

The practical application of the ability to isolate the elements of a scene, or in your case,

a posing figure, is to quickly analyze the components of the pose and to put them all back

together again into a good, strong first impression, any part of which you can call to mind

for reference as your drawing proceeds.

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Depending on the purpose, or meaning, or story behind the gesture, you will search the

figure for (not necessarily in this order)

x The overall structural personality or character (tall, thin, graceful, soft, doll-like,

comical, etc.)

x The essence of the gesture (the one-pose story, how this particular figure enacts

this particular pose, the feeling it evokes). You may want to refer back many

times to that feeling, it is important.)

x The rules of perspective, mentally superimposing them on the figure to locate

them there

Then file the findings in your short term memory for handy reference. Especially hone in

on the all important angles and any, squash and stretch. This may all sound very complex,

but it all happens in a split second.

Once these things are established in the mind, you can go back to the whole figure and

start drawing. If you bog down in some area, don’t fight it—simply switch modes and

call up that first impression for just long enough to revitalize your original intentions.

This kind of drawing is, in a sense, finished before you start, so there is less struggling

during the crucial periods of drawing. It frees you of laborious deliberations, vacillations,

backtracking, and getting sidetracked. This is not to say any new information coming to

light should not be considered, but only in so far as it is relevant and will help your first

impression.

In animation you usually have one thing to say at a time so everything on your drawing

should relate to that one thing. Forming a good first impression will establish that one

thing, and keeping it in the forefront of your mind will keep you on the right path.

Simplicity will prove to be one of your best allies, both in your concept of the gesture and

in the process of drawing it.

The first impression is the right brain’s summation of all that lies before it. Often as the

drawing proceeds, the left brain will want to step in and have you start drawing all the

details—the buttons, the stitching, the pockets, or some piece of clothing that for no

particular reason has formed a little bump. You don’t have to waste any energy fighting

such temptations - just press the “CLEAR” button and your first impression will flash

back on the screen again with all the consequential information, the strong angles, the

simple shapes, the squashes and stretches, etc.

You don’t have to “put the left brain down.” Relegate to it a job like switching back to

the first impression every minute or two—it is eager to help (it thinks it can draw better

than the right brain), but if you allow it to dominate it will copy what is before it,

insignificant details and all. Both sides of the brain are eager to help, but you have to let

them know what you want.

While watching the finals of a tennis tournament between Agassi and Anacone, I

sketched a little. This is quick sketching at a fairly fast pace. I tried for two things in these

drawings:

1. to capture the action itself, and

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2. to draw the player’s identity in the action (that is, so they could be identified as those

two players).

I can only guess at the time involved—perhaps one hundredth of a second to analyze the

gesture and from between 15 and 45 seconds to draw it. This is good practice, for it

forces you to lock in on a good solid first impression. In one second the pose has changed

and you’re stuck with how much information you have gathered in that “Ah - Ha!”

moment. In a classroom situation where there is a model to copy from, you often have to

remind yourself that it is the gesture you are after.

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Putting the Elements of a Pose Together

Earlier I reprinted some roughs as examples of a style of drawing appropriate for

animation. These roughs are beautifully drawn, loose and expressive. What sort of

thinking went into these drawings that made them spring to life as they do?

Let’s take one of those drawings and analyze it in terms of the elements of the pose. The

animator, Mark Henn, was not interested in parts, but only in telling the part of the story

that occurred on that particular frame of film.

Animators are not just recorders of facts; they are storytellers. But instead of words, they

use their drawing vocabulary to spin a tale. They have at their disposal many exciting and

dramatic ways to make expressive drawings, some of which are squash and stretch,

twisting, contrast, angles, tension, perspective, and thrust. These are not physical things

but they are what give life to physical things. (I emphasize “life” because without those

things in a drawing it would be stiff, dull, and as I often point out in the drawing class,

“too straight up and down.”)

You can be sure this drawing wasn’t started with a detail of the head, or some other part

of the body (as many students are tempted to do when drawing from the model).

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It was started with a simple sketch of the whole action; then (and only then) were the

details and finishing touches added.

At some point after the initial gesture is established, certain tensions and forces important

to the gesture should be chosen, including all parts involved, and worked on as units of

action.

Every drawing will have a weight distribution or a stress or a thrust or a twist; a squash

and stretch, a pull, a push, a drag, some action or actions that you will want to emphasize.

Choose those themes or story points or gesture topics or whatever you want to call them

and with all your awareness concentrate on them—accentuating them, “pressing home”

their importance in what you are trying to say, in a word, caricaturing them.

For instance, in Mark’s drawing, Basil is yakking about something as he goes through a

flurry of putting on his coat. At this point in the action he has thrust his tight arm through

the arm hole, causing a stretch, and is pulling it over his shoulder with his left hand. That

is one unit of action—the two hands pulling away from each other. There are others: the

lower jaw pulling away from the nose area, the left foot pulling away from the right foot,

the corner of the cloak swinging away from his body. They are all part of the action, but

they directly relate to one another.

So, in order to get the most out of these areas of action, you work one of the related parts

against the other. Never draw one part of the unit alone, but concomitantly as a whole

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unit. For instance you wouldn’t draw two unrelated parts such as his left arm and his left

leg:

Rather you would work his left arm against his right arm:

Then (but not necessarily in that order) you would draw the two feet, which work as a

unit, pulling away from each other:

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Then you would concentrate on the action of the corner of the cape as it stretches out

away from his torso:

Then the head thrust, which is set up by the sum total of all the other parts. Notice how

the nose direction is a continuation or rather a culmination of the whole body action—

clear from the left toe, but also the belt line, the cape line; and the straight lines of the

arms are almost like a “sounding board” for the yakking that is going on:

Some of the subtle poses that our models assume may be less extreme or dramatic, but all

the more reason for us to be cognizant of the importance of those vital elements in

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gesture drawing. It is so easy for a subtle pose to become another one of those “straight

up and down,” self-conscious postures. On the other hand it is “goose bump” time when

those eloquent, meaningful, story-telling gestures come through in your drawings.

Habits to Avoid

The study we are involved in is gesture, and is designed to help us when the need arises

(which is on practically every drawing) in animation. It seems that old seducing habits

prevail when new goals are not clearly stated, re-stated and kept constantly in mind.

Some of those old habits or tendencies that are likely to creep into one's drawings are:

1. Thick and thin lines. They are hard to perform with a ball point pen—which is one

reason why we are using them. I think a heavy line is fine to emphasize a tension, or

thrust, or a pull, if it serves to delineate the gesture, but not for the purpose of creating a

shadow or to balance a lopsided drawing, or for texture.

2. Shading. Shading may enhance a gesture in a painting or a rendered drawing, but the

animator does not enjoy the luxury of such devices—best to reserve shading for portrait

study.

3. Putting more details in one area than others. Sometimes one becomes fascinated by

some detail, or the mind wanders or is marking time somewhere on the drawing. Or

perhaps it is an attempt to raise the whole drawing up into the minor masterpiece level.

Sufficient for it to be a simple gesture drawing.

4. Adding texture under the pretext of locating key points in the drawing, such as the

positions of outstretched hands or feet, or dots that profess to locate balance or other

alignments. This becomes obvious when there are a lot of marks where there are no key

points. Sometimes a stipple effect is charming in illustrations for children's books and

other stylized drawings. Spattering with a pen is a much used technique in ink drawings.

Watercolorists often throw spatterings and drippings of paint by flicking their brushes at

their paintings. It adds a kind of loose and exciting texture, and also suggests the artist

was so inspired and exuberant in getting down his creative impulses that he was lost in a

flurry of involvement —heedless of his surroundings, the time, the heat, the mosquitoes,

and neatness was far from his mind. This is not to suggest that animators should not

become exuberant and totally involved, but for our study purposes we need to direct our

attention to our particular goal.

5. One of the most offensive habits is putting down lines simply to get lines down. For

instance tossing in a couple of lines for legs with no thought of which leg is supporting

most of the weight of the body. It takes no longer to draw the lines in the right attitude —

it just takes a little prior observation and thought.

6. The same goes for a multitude of lines where one line would have done the trick,

which could have been avoided with a little more searching out the gesture before the pen

or pencil is applied.

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7. This one is not a devious way to achieve a nice looking drawing but it is a sure way to

miss the gesture: drawing down one side of the body or working on isolated areas with no

thought of their correlative opposite. One should never draw one elbow, or hand, or knee,

or foot without considering the relationship to its opposite. I should say to its "companion

part" for all joints and parts work in conjunction with their counterpart. They are either

complementing, balancing, opposing, or in some way relating to one another.

8. One of the commonest techniques used to accomplish what "seems" to be gesture

drawing is copying the model. An artist who has drawn a lot and has good hand/eye

coordination, can simply by multitudinous looks at the model and back to his drawing,

reproduce fairly accurately what is before him—without ever noticing or feeling the

gesture. This is almost like photography. Later, of course, when one is called upon to

draw Mickey or Donald or say a mermaid in some particular gesture, there will be

nothing to copy or "photograph." One may be required to conjure up a multitude of

gestures, heaven forbid, from one's imagination.

So there in eight nutshells (an incomplete list, to be sure) are some tricks we need not

concern ourselves with in the study of gesture We are not striving for drawings that say,

"Look at me, aren't I an attractive drawing?" but that will say, "I have life, and feeling,

and purpose", and the drawing will reveal that purpose.

“It’s Mr. Stanchfield from the Disney Studio—wants to know if you’ll pose for a drawing class.”

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It Ain’t Easy

In drawing one must continually run through the list of prerequisites for making a

successful drawing. There is the brief study to grasp a first impression, then the start of

the sketching—the size, the pose, the perspective (including overlap, diminishing size,

surface lines, foreshortening); anatomy, squash and stretch, angles, tension—then back

through the list again, perhaps in a different order, depending on the needs of the drawing

at that particular stage. But always back to the first impression lest the drawing be

allowed to drift off into "justa drawing." So, in driving, one has constantly in mind the

destination lest one ends up just driving around.

Drawing may be compared to driving a car. While driving there are a number of things

that need to filter through the consciousness and be constantly monitored: destination,

steering, judging distances and speeds of other cars; working the gas pedal, the brakes or

the clutch; being in the right lane at the right time; checking the panel for gas,

temperature, oil; seat belt, sun visor, etc.

One must visualize the ideal drawing (gesture) and then monitor the progress and state of

the drawing in order to keep steering it in that direction. Hopefully, the analysis of the

pose to acquire the first impression was a good one.

Talking oneself through the drawing is one technique. You might say, as your pen or

pencil busies itself with your orders and desires, "Let's see, do I have enough straights,

enough curves; should I strengthen these angles? What can I do about this tangent? My

first impression was thus and so—am I sticking with it? I will stress this tension; accent

the lift or the stretch. How can I make this clearer? And so on."

This may sound like an overly involved process just to get a gesture drawing down on a

piece of blank paper, but, you see this is not just any old gesture drawing—this is the one

you are working on now, at this moment of your life. You don't want to toss it off

casually as if it were less important than another. Until all—and I mean all—of these

prerequisites for a good drawing become second nature, some method has to be used to

make sure each of these things are attended to. Just as you wouldn't think of driving a car

without checking the fuel, planning your route, and for sure, tuning the radio to your

favorite station.

"It ain't easy," as Ollie Johnston said. It requires a lot of thought and loving attention. Bill

Berg said, "I love to draw." Did he not speak for all of us? So in animation there is not

just one pose to "lovingly" attend to, but hundreds—eventually thousands of such poses.

So added to the above list of prerequisites are endurance, "stick-to-itiveness" and a

sustained enthusiasm—things which in themselves require a special nurturing.

It might seem that all this mental manipulation might impede the so-called creative side

of drawing, because all these rules and the overseeing is a left brain activity. But left to

its own, the right brain may take off into some Picasso-like freedom and we end up with

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some "creative" but inappropriate drawing. We must be creative within the bounds of our

media, so it is legitimate to call upon the left brain to help out in that respect.

Most important to the success of a drawing is that first impression. If it is perceived

wrongly, the preliminary sketch will be off and all the work put in it from then on will be

a waste. You may think I'm being overly hard-headed about this—after all, if you finish

the drawing and it looks nice, what the heck? The point is, you want to sharpen your skill

and sensitivity to the point where you can express any gesture you are called upon to

draw. It is thrilling to see a well done anatomical drawing, but it is deeply thrilling to see

a drawing that expresses some gesture, mood, feeling or meaningful action.

Following are a set of drawings that do just that. The artist's knowledge of anatomy has

been transformed to conform to the character he was drawing. His adaptation of the

anatomy of the human body was only a tool to attain his intent. His sensibility to the

personality of the character and the resultant appropriate gestures are quite phenomenal.

(I would like to interject a word of praise and respect for the cleanup people, including

inbetweeners, for many's the time when the sensitivity of the animation drawings came to

full fruition in the cleanup department.)

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Chapter 6: Pushing the Gesture

In cartoon animation we often push the gestures so far they become a caricature. We need

to not only capture our first impression, but perhaps even push it a little further.

Any of you who have used live action in animation know the devastating effects of

copying and tracing. I have seen scenes where the Photostats had been practically traced,

and the scene was lifeless. One of the reasons for this is that live action actors do not

move from extreme to extreme as animation characters do. Studying live action clips will

reveal that many actors mince through their parts like a cloud changing shapes in a

breezy sky. Often though, actors are used whose gestures are broad and crisp, making the

animators' job much easier.

What is acceptable for live action becomes bland, vapid and uninteresting when traced

into line. Here is where your ability to understand and draw gestures really hits pay dirt.

There has to be an appropriate interpretation and restatement into a cartoon style. The

term “caricature” pretty well explains the transformation. In class, you should strive for a

release from the live-action-ness of the model and extract from it, not what it is, but what

it is doing—the same as you would while sitting at an animation desk working on a

scene.

Here is a photograph of a chap picking up a box. The drawing next to it is a tracing, while

the rest of the sketches were done (albeit, crudely), to demonstrate how slightly

caricaturing the action can bring out different nuances of the pose without drastically

changing the original pose. A Mickey and a Goofy were added also to show a possible

application of such a pose in a scene of animation.

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Cliff Nordberg was a master at carrying things a little beyond the camera's viewpoint.

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A couple of typical human gestures carried to delightfully humorous extremes by Milt

Kahl:

Reproduced on the following pages are some drawings that came from one of Art

Babbit's lectures. They show how he thinks in terms of caricaturing live action for use in

cartoon action.

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Most animation is done in profile—because that is the easiest way to do it. Now is the

chance to tackle these things in a front or back view.

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Character pick-

ing up a very

heavy object. He

is not picking up

a pebble—knees

are bent at all

times because of

the weight.

You're

caricaturing

reality. You're

not trying to

imitate reality—

for that you have

a camera. Go

further than you

would. Be

inventive, you're

not stuck with

actuality.

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Drawing Gesture from the Model

The action is the thing here. There is absolutely no sense in trying to get a likeness, that

is, a cosmetic likeness, or a personality likeness. The essence of femininity, yes, the

essence of a coy or seductive pose, yes.

Don’t be shackled by the model. If the model is short and you want to draw a tall girl,

draw a tall girl; if the model’s hair is short and you want long hair, draw long hair. If the

model strikes a pose you think you could improve by altering a little here or there, do it

on your drawing.

Take a moment before you start to see the pose. Feel yourself experiencing the pose

subconsciously. Actually feel the tension of a reach, the folding up sensation of a squash;

feel the pressure on the leg that the body is standing on, the weight of the body on that

foot; feel the relaxation of the other leg show it relaxed to emphasize the tension and

weight on the other side. The model’s head is turned to the right, turn your own head to

the right—feel the wrinkling of the skin as the chin squashes against the right shoulder -

feel the left side of the neck stretch. That is what you want to draw—that squash and

stretch.

After capturing the pose, begin to consider what effect that pose has on the costume. The

idea being that you don’t animate clothing running around doing its thing—you animate a

character that is a body, which just happens to have some clothes on it.

If you want to experiment and use a cartoon character in place of the human figure that is

fine. In any event try to caricature the pose, meaning go a little farther with the pose than

the model has done (or even could do—not being a cartoon character).

Stick to the Theme

An orchestra conductor, in a discussion on conducting Mahler's 1

symphony, said he

had to be careful not to have too many climaxes in the performance. It is a relatively long

symphony, 55 minutes in length, and is full of delightful passages that could be featured

each in their own right. But there needs be control over such a temptation so that the

overall theme of each of the three movements shall prevail.

Drawing is like that. We are the conductors who are tempted also to feature the many

interesting passages on the model. Some passages—a wrinkle, a belt buckle, a hair do,

are sensuous to the point where we want to render them into little masterpieces of non-

essential detail. Usually, a drawing has but one theme, and that theme must be featured or

the drawing disintegrates into a montage of unrelated climaxes.

There is a story to be told in drawing, whether it is one drawing of a model or many

drawings in a scene of animation. True, in both cases there are secondary actions and

costuming that must be dealt with, but the story (theme) is all important, while all else

must be kept in a subordinate role. Subordinate doesn't mean unimportant. Everything on

the drawing is there to help stress the story. Every line drawn should help direct the eye

to the theme.

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An obvious example, but to the point (pun meant):

Every scene of animation and every single drawing have a theme upon which the

viewers' attention should be directed. Every line in the drawing must help.

It is much more difficult in music and literature. To keep a central motif going in music

for 55 minutes takes some advanced know-how and discipline. An author has a similar

problem. Whether writing a love story or a psychic thriller, the words chosen are like the

lines we use in drawing—they help reveal and build the substance of the theme. A wrong

choice of words or phrases will spoil the mood. Things that are not basic to the story

(plot, mood or gesture) have to be left out.

Here are two sketches from the drawing class that illustrate the "centering down," the

"gathering of the forces", the aggregation of certain elements crucial to telling the story.

(I like that word aggregate it means: a mass of distinct things gathered together—a total).

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The first sketch if

carried further would

have been a good

drawing in the sense

the artist would have

finished it with a

certain amount of

expertise.

The second drawing

immediately centers

your attention on the

story. A sailor has

tossed a line to some

destination. You feel

the force of the toss.

The secondary action

of the held end of the

rope indicates that it

has not reached its

destination yet which

is commensurate with

the throwing arm still

at its extreme p

His body is bent

forward and down

from the forwar

thrust of the toss,

causing another

secondary action, the

belly-hanging-over-

the-belt bit. The

straight of the right

leg plus the force

exerted by the left leg,

along with the open

"channel" set up by

the two arms and the

paid out rope, and

even the unseen face,

open a "passage" (one

of Don Graham's

favorite words) for t

attention of the view

to dwell on, or pass through. That is where the story is being told, and every line in the

drawing is contributing to it.

osition.

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So drawing is not just recording a leg here, an arm there, a head and hands, etc. A

drawing is like a parable, which is a story told to convey a lesson. If the story reveals the

meaning of the lesson it is a success, but if it is just a cute story, it falls short of its reason

for being.

Subtlety

Consider the normal upright standing position. It is not what you ordinarily think of as an

action but actually, to stand is an action. Stand is a verb. Just think of what you have to

go through to remain standing. There is constant muscular adjustment, and according to

our individual physical structure, our attitude and the conditions around us cause

everyone's "stand" to be slightly different.

It is utterly impossible for a person to do nothing. So in effect every position a person

gets into is a pose. There's a challenge for you whenever you are drawing—though the

figure seems to be doing nothing, such is not the case. You must sometimes seek out very

subtle nuances to capture the pose or gesture.

When you begin to radiate out in all directions from that upright pose—into the millions

of variations of poses and gestures the human figure can assume—it seems to get easier.

It seems like instead of shooting an arrow at a tiny target, it's more like shooting it at the

"broad side of a barn." But it just seems that way. There are as many if not more

subtleties in a broad pose as there are in a subdued one. It may not take as much

concentration to draw an action pose as a subtle standing pose, for you can get away with

more. But if you apply the same effort in seeking out the subtleties of a broad pose as you

must do for a less active one, you would end up with a really nice drawing, not merely a

recognizable action.

So don't settle for merely recognition—go for the subtleties. If you are animating and

leaving those subtleties for the cleanup person to find, you are expecting quite a bit. A

cleanup person should be skilled enough to "cover" you, but it is usually enough for the

cleanup people to hang on to whatever the animator has drawn.

If you are a cleanup person—it behooves you to train yourself in those subtleties, so

when they are needed in a scene of animation—you are ready. And willing, let me add.

Cleaning up may not have the most glamorous aura about it, but it is an integral part of

animation. After all, yours are the actual drawings that are seen on the screen. It is my

contention that is easier to animate a loosely drawn character in a scene than it is to clean

it up. On the other hand, if the animator has worked clean and has all the subtleties

carefully drawn, then the cleanup person's job is a cinch—gravy.

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Pushing the Gesture

Here are some quick sketches done in class by Broose Johnson. They are simple in style

and capture the essence of the pose with an economy of line, and as you might guess, in a

very few seconds. Notice how in group 1, Broose got more twist in the second try by

opening up the armhole of the dress, bringing the breast into view, sending the V of the

dress farther around, breaking the silhouette with the hair, and adding a wrinkle from the

left hip to the right shoulder.

In group 4, note how in the drawing on the right, the tension was increased between the

heads and shoulders, causing a feeling of movement. A more acute angle on the girl’s

upper body allowed her hair to hang down—a nice touch. Note the improved negative

space between the heads. That same area in the drawing on the left is slightly static—it

repeats the perpendicular angles of the body and arm of the girl.

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The drawing on the left below is an example where the artist was merely drawing

things—heads, arms, legs, etc.—just to get them all down. (The models were being

“photographed” for the family album.) I looked for not only the abstract shapes of the

bodies but also the abstract of the pose. I used the man’s straight, more youthful body as

a kind of backboard for their attention to the camera—which is helped along by the older

woman’s bent forward shape. Can you feel the movement going off to screen left where

the camera is? Angles and negative shapes are involved also. Look from one drawing to

the other and you will see what happens to the negative shapes and how they help to

define and simplify the drawing. I made no attempt to draw a head or an arm, or a body. I

looked for the abstract shapes and they defined the body parts for me.

Gesture to Portray an Action or a Mood

To further investigate the use and importance of gestures to portray an action or a mood, I

have taken a couple of simple but expressive drawings that were made in our action

analysis session and altered them to fit other possible meanings.

The drawings on the next two pages have what you might call a basic stance, one

standing and one kneeling. Notice how, by changing some of the extremities, the whole

attitude is changed. That is because these postures and gestures are a part of the universal

language of gesture. Posture, pose, carriage, manners, bearing, movement all tell what

kind of person it is and what that person is doing or thinking.

When certain gestures are drawn, we “read” the pose quickly because we are educated as

to their meaning. This makes it possible to communicate in a visual way. A good

pantomimist can tell all manner of stories by gesture alone. This is part of the animator’s

“vocabulary” too, for in telling a story in cartoons, he must use visual means.

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Action Analysis: Hands & Feet

In life drawing classes there is a tendency to start somewhere around the head and end up

somewhere around the knees. Perhaps the students are influenced by the thousands of

sculptured torsos and portrait paintings that fill the museums, galleries and art books.

However, for the animator, such a restricted area of study is for all practical purposes

useless.

Pantomime plays an important part in animation, especially in scenes that contain no

dialogue. Even those scenes with dialogue are greatly enhanced and, of even more

importance, caricatured by pantomime.

If the animator were to study the mime, he would find that the hands and feet are one of

the most important parts of the body in the representation of an action, or of a character, a

mood, or a gesture.

To emphasize the importance of the above premise I have selected some illustrations,

which are presented in two different forms—one showing the head and torso, one

showing the lower legs and feet plus the lower arms and hands. I submit that the latter

drawings explain the poses much better than the ones with the head and torso only. I am

not suggesting that you begin an extensive study of hands and feet, but only that when

studying the figure you put the emphasis on the parts that explain what you are drawing.

Otherwise your study becomes a mere repetition of torso after torso, after torso, after

torso.

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Learn to Cheat

No, I am not trying to lead you astray. “Cheating” in drawing is a term used when some

part of the figure is adjusted to help make the pose read more clearly. One of the most

obvious places to introduce a cheat is in establishing a good silhouette. First, let’s look at

a drawing with a fairly good silhouette.

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This drawing of Dawson clearly defines his hat, nose,

mustache, mouth, hand, coattail, legs, and so on. The

stance, mood and personality are unmistakable.

Incidentally, the third-dimensional elements in the

drawing work equally well in making it a readable

drawing.

If the drawing had not been so successful, “cheating” a

little here and there would have helped. For instance the

coattails, or the fingers, or the hat could have been

lengthened or in some way made more obvious.

Let’s take a less clear silhouette and see if it could be improved without substantially

changing the pose. In the first attempt Dawson’s left elbow was extended to avoid the

tangent it was forming with the backside. His right elbow was shortened to expose more

cheek, and the tip of the hat was more clearly defined. In the second attempt the left arm

was shortened and the backside extended (the opposite from the first), with a little of his

shirttail extended, which helps to divide and define the upper body from the lower.

The fear of straying from what is before you while drawing from the live model can

sometimes “tie your hands” (your drawing hands). An innocent little cheat may do such

wonders for your drawing that any deviation from the “facts” will go unnoticed.

A good place to practice cheating is while drawing from the human figure. Very often in

a classroom situation you will be stuck with a difficult angle where things that explain or

complete the gesture are hidden from you.

The challenge of adjusting the pose to better tell your story can be invigorating. The

important thing is you are not bound to copy what is before you, but on the contrary, you

are bound to tell the story of the gesture, even if you have to cheat to do it.

Caricature, one of the animator’s most valuable tools, is a total cheat. An effective

caricature can be so exaggerated that not one line of realism remains. Even so, a good

caricature can be more “real” than a photographic copy. Tracing photostats for a scene of

animation is sufficient proof of that.

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So start now. Discover that creative freedom that releases you from the conventional

copycat type of seeing, thinking and drawing. Become a good cheater.

I saved two drawings from class that may help to illustrate the point. In the first one, the

model had assumed a rather haughty, officious air. It was subtle and the drapery was no

help at all. One artist got trapped in the multitude of curves in the clothes and figure, and

in attempting to copy what was there, missed the aloofness of the gesture. In my

suggestion, I “cheated.” I took out all the curves (I have a tendency to go to extremes

when pointing out things like this), thrust the shoulder up, straightened out the hanging

shirttail (thus accenting the shoulder lift), stretched the neck and added a better angle to

the folded arms, and voila instant arrogance.

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The other drawing was again from a deceptive pose, in that the clothes contained a lot of

soft curves. In cases like this, one has to cheat a little and introduce what they know is

happening rather than what they see. For instance, in this pose the girl’s right shoulder

had to lower in shape as well as position; the front of the neck had to stretch to reach

from the raised chin to the lowered pit of the neck; and the coat had to hang with some

straights to contrast with the bunched up cloth at the elbows.

Here are two beautiful drawings by Carl Erickson. Lots of “overlap,” “diminishing size,”

“surface lines,” and “foreshortening”. Observe how every line and shape and detail seem

to direct your eye right to the center of interest, the center of interest being a look. Every

line on the woman carries your eye to that space between her eye and the mirror. The

man’s hat brim and shoulder form a path for his look to travel on.

The book I got this from has this to say about Erickson and his drawings: “They give the

impression of having sprung to life without suffering the usual labor pains. But his

performance looks too easy; its nonchalance is deceptive. It is not accomplished without

a struggle. Erickson indeed is a hard-working man, a very serious artist who is usually

practicing when not actually performing. In spare moments he is usually drawing from

the model.... and his sketchbook goes with him to the restaurant and to the theatre.”

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Lazy Lines

While talking to Dan Jeup one day, he mentioned "lazy lines." He was referring to lines

that didn't describe anything, Things like shape, texture, softness or hardness. It's like

what you get when you trace something, an overall sameness of line. Granted, when you

are using a mechanical pencil as we are on "Mermaid," that in itself cuts down on

possible variations of line. However, the problem of lazy lines goes deeper than just the

surface patina; it has to do with the lack of basic drawing.

For instance, the same pencil makes a line for a bird's beak as for its feathers. If the artist

does not feel the difference and try to inject that feeling into the drawing, then both lines

will look alike—lazy lines. And incidentally, they will look like a tracing.

Many factors go into the drawing of any part of a bird, and the mind must be focused on

each thing separately yet simultaneously. A Zen saying may help to clarify what I am

trying to say: "When I am walking, I am walking; when I am eating, I am eating." It

simply means that when you are walking, enjoy the fact, instead of planning what you are

going to do about the rent payment or what you should have said during yesterday's

discussion on politics. Now is the only moment you have—live in it. Someone said,

"Thank God we only live one moment at a time—we couldn't handle any more than that."

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Back to walking. When I am walking, I am (just) walking. I feel the cool breeze or the

soothing warmth of the sun; I hear whatever sounds pass into my consciousness; I feel

my heels strike the ground as they make contact; I enjoy the sway of my body as it

negotiates for balance and forward motion; I watch the scenery go by and am aware of

the three-dimensional quality unfolding around me. These factors are all happening

simultaneously yet can be enjoyed separately. The same goes for every activity of your

daily living. It is possible to go through life (or sometimes just big chunks of it) in a sort

of dream state wherein you don't really experience the things you do. And so it is possible

to make a drawing (many drawings) without being wholly conscious of what you are

drawing.

To apply that philosophy to drawing, you simply have to realize: when you are drawing a

beak, you are drawing a beak; when you are drawing a feathered head, you are drawing a

feathered head. And that goes for any of the hundreds, or will it be thousands, of separate

parts you will be called upon to draw. This may seem contrary to my usual preaching

about not drawing details in the gesture class. It is a matter of sequence—first the rough

gesture drawing, then the detail. The line used to lay in the pose or action (acting) can be

all one kind of line, as long as it is flowing, expressive, flexible, searching, and basic. The

line to "finalize" the drawing must describe the shape, texture, and malleability of each

part. So when drawing a bird's beak, you should aspire to make the drawing say "beak."

When you get to the feathered part of the bird, you shift gears or press the, "When I am

drawing feathers, I am drawing feathers" button.

I fully realize the pressure levied on you by the production schedules, but it really takes

but a split second to alter your thinking as you move from one texture or shape to

another. Just being aware of what you are drawing will help to elevate your line from

"lazy" to "expressive."

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The bird beak and feather thing is pretty obvious, so for a demonstration I'll use a

character with a metal crown, some areas of hard and soft flesh, and some hair and

cloth:

Let's start with the crown.

In reality it is a very

inflexible, rigid and lifeless

object. It must be drawn so

it looks like metal, though

in animation, liberties may

be taken with its shape. For

instance, to enhance a

raised eyebrow or a frown,

it can be contorted to

accommodate the

expression. Its shape may

be altered to help other

actions too—for instance

here the crown of the

crown still fits snugly onto

his head but the brim leans

forward helping the

direction of the look.

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Also notice that since the head is

tilted to our left it sets up a squash

on that side and a stretch on the

other side—and the contorted

crown shape contributes to that

very important animation g

squash and stretch. Even so, it

remains rigid and must be drawn

so as the surrounding hair and fles

work against it with their softness

and of course, more extreme

flexibility—soft and flexible n

lazy-lines, that is.

immick,

on-

Take the hair. Its basic shape is

In movement it never loses that basic appearance, but may squash and stretch and overlap

to enhance the head moves.

So, as you "Zen" your way through the drawing, you come to the face. You say, now I

am drawing the bridge of the nose: Now the top of the nose:

Now the front of the nose: Now the part under the nostril: Now the

back of the nostril:

Now the top of the nostril:

Those are all separate parts of the face and must be kept in mind as you are drawing

them. If you think of all that as being just one big shape it will end up as a lazy-line

drawing:

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When drawing a cheek it is not just a line you

are putting down, it is a shape made of very

flexible flesh over a fairly rigid bone structure.

So when the chin is pulled down, the cheeks

stretch and usually there is a bag under the eye.

At this stage it is a bag you are drawing. When

the mouth smiles, it pushes all that flesh up and

pretty soon you are no longer drawing a bag

under the eye; you are drawing the top of the

cheek. The highest part of the cheek is found at

a point where the mouth would have touched it

had the mouth line continued up that far. So

then you say, I am drawing the bottom of the

cheek as it hangs over the corner of the mouth,

which in this case is covered by the mustache,

which is not a lazy-line mustache, but one

which is drawn in a way that suggests a smiling

mouth.

Now I am drawing the flesh that is slightly

more rigid, which is trying to stay where it

belongs. It is connected to the other line but is a

different thing, and requires thought to depict it

as a separate thing. Now I am drawing the front

of the cheek as it bulges forward over the back

side of the nostril wing. Suddenly it is not the

back of the nose you are drawing—it is the

cheek, attached more firmly.

Now I am drawing the top of the cheek. The part nearest the

nose and the ear try to stay put, so you get a bulge of loose

flesh between two ends that trail off to where they are

attached more firmly.

Lazy lines would not spell out all that action. They would

simply be there, not describing what is actually happening in

a realistic manner.

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And as if all that wasn't

enough to keep you

thoroughly occupied, you

have to fit all those parts into

the perspective of the layout.

So you have to constantly

remind yourself of where the

vanishing point is and see that

all of the parts are loyal to the

layout.

If you are a "lazy line" person, all this will seem like an unbearable burden, but if you

love to draw, and can incorporate the "When I am drawing this, I am drawing this" bit,

your job of drawing will become very meaningful. Sparks of enthusiasm will put a

twinkle in your eyes and a sparkle in your drawings.

Double Vision

Try this experiment in a gesture drawing session. Find a production model sheet of a

cartoony character, and clip it to the top of your drawing board where it will be visible at

all times. Transfer the gestures of the live model onto the production model.

This will give you an opportunity to break away altogether from copying the details of

the live model. Try to capture the pose the live model is offering you but just “throw in”

the shapes and costume of the production model. Don't get involved in detail or

“cleanup.” At first you may think this is a waste of a perfectly good live model, but as

you get with it, I think you’ll find it to be a revelation. It might even become addictive.

Do not attempt to copy anything on the live model except the gesture, and do not try to

copy anything specific off the model sheet—just sketch in the most general terms.

Occasionally a bit of live action film is used as source material for animation. Since it is

impossible to find actors who are constructed like the cartoon characters, the animator

has to extract the essence of the action from the film or Photostat and transfer that to the

drawings. It takes a kind of “double vision”—you are looking at the live action but you

are seeing the cartoon character. You may be looking at a person seven heads tall but

drawing a cartoon character three or four heads tall. It requires a special knack—but it is

a learnable knack.

In the early '30s when the use of live action was first tried, it was a period of discovery, a

period of great excitement. That discovery is history, and now each artist has to discover

for themselves the merits and even the necessity of using live action, whether in the form

of live models, film clips or Photostats. After all, all cartoon characters, no matter how

cartoony, are built on human traits or attributes.

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Chapter 6: Pushing the Gesture

Learning to see in this “double vision” can be fun. In their book The Illusion of Life, Ollie

and Frank state, “And the spirit of fun and discovery was probably the most important

element of that period.” Don’t let the statement, “that period” squelch your spirit of

discovery, pursuit and involvement.

Again I quote from the The Illusion of Life, “But whenever we stayed too close to the

Photostats, or directly copied even a tiny piece of human action, the results looked very

strange. The moves appeared real enough, but the figure lost the illusion of life .... Not

until we realized that photographs must be redrawn in animatable shapes, (our proven

tools of communication) were we able to transfer this knowledge to cartoon animation. It

was not the photographed action of an actor’s swelling cheek that mattered, it was the

animated cheek in our drawings that had to communicate. Our job was to make the

cartoon figure go through the same movements as the live actor, with the same timing

and the same staging, but, because animatable shapes called for a difference in

proportions, the figure and its model could not do things in exactly the same way. The

actor’s movements had to be reinterpreted in the world of our designs and shapes and

forms.”

So give this experiment a try. Be sure to use a cartoony character so that you can, as the

saying goes, hang loose. And to show you how loose you may be I have taken some class

drawings of Craig, our model, in other costumes and turned him into Louis. I even used a

female dancer and a little girl to demonstrate that it is not so much the model as it is your

ability to adapt the human figure to the cartoon figure. These are my first tries at the

character, so to the trained eye may be disgustingly off model, but for our purposes

anything faintly resembling the character will do.

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Gesture Drawing For Animation

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Gesture Drawing For Animation

Caricature

In drawing from the model, there is a tendency to draw the ideal figure, the one that

frequents the anatomy books and the ones we clip or Xerox and pin up above our desks.

Instead, take advantage of the variety of subjects in your sketching sessions. Capture

those distinguishing features in your drawing. This one has a large mid-section with a

receding chin. This one is tall or paunchy or lithe. His body tapers down to tiny ankles

that seem incongruously inadequate to carry the weight. This one is chunky, even

muscular, but dainty in movement—even graceful.

The same applies to heads. The model may have a pinched nose, a double chin, baggy

jowls, a long upper lip, beady eyes or a low forehead.

Should we not keep these things in mind rather than deltoids, ulnas and the 7-heads tall

syndrome? As Robert Henri said, “Seeing into the realities—beyond the surfaces of the

subject.”

These are the things that help determine and emphasize the gesture. Even as the structure

of the body determines the possibilities and the uniqueness of a gesture, so with the

construction of the head and the features of the face, especially if those features can be

recognized and caricatured.

Don Graham said, “It isn’t how well we draw the joints or the different parts of the

anatomy, but how well you know where they are, how they relate and how they work.

That’s the important thing.” And as Woolie Reitherman said, “Get the spirit of the thing.

That’s the most important and then after that you can add to it.” Ward Kimball said if he

could take something apart and put it back together again, he could draw it. Perhaps we

could approach drawing the head in that way. If we could analyze the construction of the

head, the types of features and the meaning of the gesture, we could draw it.

In animation, the ideal model sheet is one that clearly describes the head shape and the

features. The proportions and types of features are all defined and clearly recorded. It will

even suggest, somewhat, the extremes one might go to in animating that character. Even

then, it is not easy. And it is less easy with a live model. Here it is up to us to discover the

idiosyncrasies of that person and use them to reveal and enhance the gesture. A

reproduction of an anatomy book illustration will not do—no more than it does for the

model of one of our characters in a cartoon feature. The basic structure will certainly be

useful, but as for individual character, each person is unique, and the gesture that comes

from that uniqueness is what we are striving for.

For the animation artist the ideal lies somewhere in that vast area between

realistic/anatomical and cartoon/caricature. Walt’s definition of caricature: “The true

interpretation of caricature is the exaggeration of an illusion of the actual, or the sensation

of the actual put into action.” Eric Larson said, (see Eric Larson’s lectures on

caricature—copies available [Ed. note: does anyone have a copy of this?]):

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